Officer Who Hit Danish Activist Sued by Arab

Col. Shalom Eisner, who was filmed hitting a pro-Arab Danish anarchist, sued by an Arab who took part in the same violent demonstration.

By Uzi Baruch and Elad Benari

First Publish: 5/8/2014, 12:46 AM

Lt. Col. Eisner

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Col. Shalom Eisner, the IDF officer who was filmed hitting a pro-Arab Danish anarchist with his weapon in 2012, has been sued by an Arab who was involved in the violent demonstration in which Eisner was filmed.

Channel 2 News reported on Wednesday evening that the lawsuit against Eisner was filed at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court in recent days.

Eisner had been filmed striking the anarchist during a confrontation with pro-Arab activists. In his role as deputy commander of the Jordan Valley Brigade he was attempting to clear Palestinian Arabs and foreign anarchists from a road they were blocking.

Prior to the blow, the anarchists had broken Eisner's fingers; however, that part of the altercation was not included in the released footage.

According to the Channel 2 report on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense has announced that the State Attorney will provide full legal assistance to Eisner since the incident took place during his service in the IDF.

Polls conducted for the Makor Rishon newspaper after the confrontation took place in 2012 found 51% of Israelis felt the decision to dismiss Eisner from his command post was unjustified, with only 37% saying it was justified. Further, 78% of national-religious and 79% of Hareidi-religious were against the decision.

It has been noted that other countries, such as the anarchist's native Denmark, witness extreme police violence even against peaceful demonstrators, to degrees far surpassing that employed by Eisner.